1. Field of Invention
The present disclosure relates to a flow meter having a cone shaped flow element. The present disclosure also relates to a flow meter having a flow element with dimensions that are selectively changeable.
2. Description of Prior Art
Facilities that handle fluids, such as refineries, chemical processing plants, terminals for loading and offloading fluids, transmission pipelines, and the like, typically employ flow meters within flow lines for measuring fluid flowrates through the flow lines. While some flow meters monitor flow external to a flow line, most flow meters have components within the flow line that interact with the fluid to obtain a measure of the flowrate. Some flow meters include rotating, elements, such as spinners or propellers that rotate in response to the fluid flowing past the flow meter. These flow meters monitor the rotational velocity of the rotating element and correlate it to the fluid velocity.
Other types of flow meters introduce a temporary restriction in the cross sectional area of the fluid stream and monitor a pressure differential created by flowing the fluid across the restriction. One type of restriction is an orifice plate, which as the name implies, is a plate set transverse to the flow with an orifice through axially formed through its mid portion. Another restrictive flow meter incorporates a Venturi tube with a reduced diameter throat through which the fluid flow being monitored is directed. Additional examples of flow meters restrict the cross sectional area of flow by suspending an obstruction in the path of the fluid flowing through the flow meter.